Alabama youth earns Zeb Scholarship

ARLINGTON, Texas – Jarrod Hicks of Hueytown, Ala., has been selected to receive the 2012 United States Bowling Congress Annual Zeb Scholarship.

The $2,500 scholarship is awarded each year to a USBC Youth member, who is in their junior or senior year of high school, has a minimum 3.0 grade-point average (4.0 scale) and has given back to their community through service.

“It is an honor to receive this award,” Hicks said. “It still feels surreal that I was the only person in the entire nation to be chosen for the Zeb Scholarship. This award is not only an honor, but is also a reminder to remain involved in bowling, my community and in education.”

The scholarship is named for Jim Zebehazy, who served as executive director of the Young American Bowling Alliance from 1996-2004 and first was presented in 2005. Zebehazy currently is a Regional Manager for USBC.

Hicks recently graduated from Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School (JCIB) with a 4.561 weighted grade-point average (4.0 scale). Following his sophomore year at JCIB, he was selected as a delegate to the Youth Leadership Forum of Birmingham (Ala.), which Hicks said “opened my eyes to how much youth can contribute to local communities and to society as a whole.”

He has been involved with YouthServe, Inc., a community service organization, for more than a year and was on the Youth Philanthropy Council that was in charge of determining how to distribute $20,000 throughout the Birmingham community.

“Jarrod has been a leader on this council and has shown complete devotion, despite his rigorous academics, bowling career and other community endeavors,” said J. Lauren Banks, executive director of YouthServe.

Hicks works once a week in a neuroimaging lab at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, working with graduate students to process neuroimaging data.

As a bowler, he has been selected to the Greater Birmingham USBC Youth All-City Team the last three seasons and posted the highest average as a youth bowler in 2010. He is co-chair of his youth committee, assisted with lane inspections at area centers and with several local bowling tournaments and he also works in his home center’s pro shop.

Hicks plans to attend the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in the fall and will be in the Science and Technology Honors Program. He plans to double-major in neuroscience and mathematics.